LGBTQ Kids’ Books Win Prestigious Youth Media Awards in Multiple Categories

Numerous LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ books were honored at today’s annual American Library Association Youth Media Awards, winning not only in LGBTQ categories, but also in several others—proving once again that those who wish to ban or restrict them are keeping kids from some of the best children’s literature around.

Click book titles for my own reviews of picture book and middle grade titles! (YA titles, which I don’t typically review, link to publishers’ sites.)

The Stonewall Book Awards—Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award

The Youth Media Awards include the renowned Newbery and Caldecott Medals, but also many other awards that recognize literary and artistic excellence in books published the previous year. This year’s Stonewall Book Award—Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s Literature Award, for a book of “exceptional merit relating to the LGBTQIA+ experience,” went to:

• Lunar Boy, by Cin and Jes Wibowo (Harper Alley), a warm and touching graphic novel about a transgender boy finding community and connection in the distant future.

Two picture books and two middle grade titles were named Stonewall Honor Books:

• Marley’s Pride, by Joëlle Retener, illustrated by DeAnn Wiley (Barefoot Books), a bright and affirming story about a nonbinary child who learns to overcome their fears so they can attend Pride with their nonbinary grandparent.
• What I Must Tell the World: How Lorraine Hansberry Found Her Voice, by Jay Leslie, illustrated by Loveis Wise (Zando), a powerful and lyrical biography of the playwright that recognizes and celebrates both Hansberry’s Black and queer identities, showing how they shaped her and her work.
• The Flicker, by H. E. Edgmon (Feiwel & Friends), a moving dystopian novel with a queer and an indigenous protagonist at the fore.
• Murray Out of Water, by Taylor Tracy (Quill Tree), a novel in verse about a queer tween and her found family, with a light touch of magical realism.

The Stonewall Award for Young Adult Books went to:

Four Stonewall Honors for Young Adult Books went to:

All of the Stonewall Awards and Honors are hugely well-deserved. As I’ve said before, though, I would still love to see a third category, splitting out picture books from middle grade. As my own Database of LGBTQ Family Books shows, there are now dozens of books in each age range every year, and some truly excellent ones in each—enough, I believe, to support awards in both age ranges.

Other Awards

A number of LGBTQ-inclusive picture and middle grade books also gained awards in non-LGBTQ-specific categories:

• Illustrator Jamiel Law won a Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe New Talent Award (Illustration) for the picture book Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin, by Michelle Meadows (HarperCollins), a lyrical biography of Baldwin from childhood onward.
• Joyful Song, by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Susan Gal (Levine Querido) was named a Sydney Taylor Honor Book for books “that authentically portray the Jewish experience.” It’s a joyous picture book about a Jewish boy (who happens to have two moms) excited about the naming ceremony for his new baby sister.
• Also garnering a Sydney Taylor Honor was the middle grade novel Just Shy of Ordinary, by A.J. Sass (Little, Brown), in which a 13-year-old nonbinary, genderfluid student wants to establish a “new normal” to address their anxiety—but IS set on a path of self-discovery when their careful plans are upset.
• Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf, by Deke Moulton (Tundra), a powerful middle grade novel of identity, bias, community, and change, starring a gay boy who lives with his extended family of Jewish werewolves, was named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book.

And LGBTQ-inclusive books for young adults also won in other categories:

• Night Owls, by A. R. Vishny (HarperCollins), won the Sydney Taylor Book Award (Young Adult).
• The Forbidden Book, by Sacha Lamb (Levine Querido) earned a Sydney Taylor Honor (Young Adult).
• Libertad, by Bessie Flores Zaldívar (Dial), earned a Pura Belpré Honor (Author), “presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.”
• The Deep Dark, by Molly Knox Ostertag (Graphix), gained a Michael L. Printz Honor;
• and Compound Fracture, by Andrew Joseph White (Peachtree) gained a Michael L. Printz Honor as well.

Additionally, author Carole Boston Weatherford won the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, for “a substantial and lasting contribution to children’s literature through books that demonstrate integrity and respect for all children’s lives and experiences.” Her books illuminate Black lives and experiences, and while not all include LGBTQ representation, several do, including Sugar Pie Lullaby, A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington, and Becoming Billie Holiday.

Here is the full list of this year’s ALA Youth Media Award winners. As always, you can find the Stonewall winners from previous years (for board, picture, and middle grade books) tagged as such in my database.

Let’s take a moment to celebrate these wonderful books, their authors and illustrators, and everyone who helps bring these titles into the lives of young people. Then, let’s get to work fighting the epidemic of censorship across the country that is trying to ban or restrict these necessary stories.

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